Vampire Diaries Season Three
by JennaBlake
Summary: My take on what will happen in Season 3: Damons alive, Stefans gone, Katherines back and Elena needs to tread carefully or more than one man she loves will end up dead.
1. Chapter 1

**Set the same night of the season 2 finale. After Katherine leaves Elena tries to follow but Damon doesn't let her. Basically, she falls asleep in Damon's bed after a looong night of crying (obv.!) and that's where this takes up.. don't think dirty, because i don't write dirty you perves! ;)**

_**i ship D/E, but i do it realistically. it will not happen straight away and it will not be simple. S/E is still a reality here so just stick with me..**_

* * *

><p><strong>Damon<strong>

It should make a difference when someone loves you, right? I mean, it should, but normally and especially in my eternity, I've learnt that it just doesn't.

It's three in the morning and I'm lying awake, listening as Elena's short breaths come and go and I know she's having a nightmare. It's not the fact that her body is wrapped unnaturally around my sheets or the sound of her whimpering that tips me off. It is, offcourse, her heartbeat and racing pulse that allows me this knowledge. I am after all not human, I am ever the predator. I wonder whether this is how Stefan felt… _feels_ when he lays with her… I doubt it.

She rolls towards me, her hands reaching out for who she probably thinks in her dream state is Stefan but I allow her to press her body close to mine anyway. I can't see her face because it's so dark and I wish I could but I know its better this way. It'll hurt less later, when she realises that this is my fault, that she truly does hate me.

I wonder what it would be like if this wasn't our life, if I could lie next to her without knowing it was wrong. If I could look at her without the knowledge that merely _being_ has ruined two lives. If I could reach closer and whisper comforting things to her as she slept and not fear that my voice would only disgust her… I could make myself mad with wondering but in the end the result is the same, things will never be like that for us. I am not Stefan. Too much has happened and is going to happen and we can't let ourselves, I can't let _myself, _let down my guard for a second. It only takes a second for one of us to hope, to die.

"_I love Stefan, it's always going to be Stefan"  
><em>I wake with a jolt and feel Elena stir beside me. I can't remember falling asleep but those words spoken what feels like lifetimes ago are like a slap in the face. I could break that bond, even if I may want to...

**Elena**

I awake almost screaming and immediately I feel Damon's hands on my arms, holding me down.

"It's okay Elena, it's okay" he reassures me as his grip loosens.

I realise my breath has turned into panting and I try to suck in as much air as I can. Damon's eyes are wild as he watches my face and I can feel him instinctually pulling away from me. My heart is racing but I can breath properly again. I don't try to speak, afraid that any sound will break the calm I'm trying to hold, the dreams I'm trying to push to the back.

"Are you okay?" Damon asks me and his voice is rougher than normal as he watches me with intense eyes. He's watching my lips. I wriggle out of his grip as I nod. He lets go.

"Okay, good" he doesn't say anymore as he moves back onto his side of the bed and rolls onto his back. I move to the end of the mattress and turn to watch him as he closes his eyes and breaths deeply, trying to calm himself. What was I doing here? I must have fallen asleep. But Stefan needed me now. I needed to go and yet, I couldn't help but notice that even though he was the reason Stefan had left, he was still here... I can see the lingering traces of the werewolf bite, the large patch of disfigured skin on his forearm that would only go away once he had blood in his system. Why hadn't he fed? I want to ask him. I want to scream at him. But mostly, I want to cry. _He_ issafe. But Stefan is not.

"You're staring Elena… and normally I couldn't blame you but I'm not really at the top of my game right now" he pulls me from my dark train of thought. My eyes rise from his bare torso to his face. He is watching with a raised brow. What's the point? What's the point in telling him that I always stare, that he just never catches me? What's the point in telling him that I always want to be able to stare, that I want him and I want Stefan and that I most of the time I don't know _what _I want. What's the point when none of it matters now because Stefan is gone and I can't look at him without feeling like it was all my fault. It _was_ my fault.

"Put a shirt on" I tell him and I watch as a brief flicker of hurt crosses his face before he shrugs and closes his eyes again. He probably hadn't slept at all last night. He'd probably been looking out for me. No, not probably. He _had_. Just as he always has.

I get up and go to the desk at the far end of the room where I'd left my phone. I can feel Damon's eyes on me. No messages. No missed calls. No Stefan.

"Elena" I jump and my phone slips from my hands and falls to the ground. He is standing right behind me, his mouth almost touching my ear. I needn't wonder how he'd moved so quickly or so silently. It shouldn't shock me. Stefan had done it all the time. But this was different, this felt less… safe and I just, I hadn't expected it. "Elena" he says again, this time more urgent, his breath tickling against my neck and I feel the heat begin to rise in my cheeks, everywhere. I remember how his lips had felt when I'd kissed him. His hands move to rest on my upper arms.

"Stay here" he whispers and I think I almost feel his tongue touch my earlobe ever so slightly but then his hands are gone and I hear the front door open and close in a second and I know I am alone.

* * *

><p><em>AN: thanks for reading! <em>

_Next Chapter: Katherine has a thing or two to discuss with dear Damon, meanwhile Elena has a plan of her own to get her little bunny muncher back. _


	2. Chapter 2

_thanks to everyone who read or reviewed. I really appreciate the feedback and I'm sorry about the delay for chapter 2. chapter 3 will be up before the weeks out. _

* * *

><p><strong>Damon<strong>

"Katherine" I say, more an accusation then a greeting. Why was she still here?

"Well, that's no way to greet your saviour now is it?" she smirks at her own wit. She will never change. After all this time, after all that has happened, she won't give up the pretence that she is hollow, that she feels nothing. She mistakes callousness for strength. That, I can understand but now… after everything…

"_Stefan_ saved me, not you" I tell her, hoping maybe by reminding her that her beloved had been taken as a willing hostage I would wipe the grin from her face. It works. Her smile turns down into a scowl and I can almost, _almost_ see the ghost of sadness in her eyes but then it's gone and she's smiling again.

"Well, aren't you going to invite me in?" she teases, running her finger along the doorframe next to me, her chest pressing against mine. My body freezes and I don't respond, knowing that anything I want to say right now will only piss her off. I am still more myself then I knew. That is good, I will need that. Things are going to get messy around here and there won't be any use for weakness, for feelings. I will need to lose myself once more in the anger that I can already feel sucking away at my humanity.

"Oh wait, you don't have to" she says with a triumphant shrug as shoves past me and steps over the threshold, into the house. I groan. Elena had technically died in the sacrifice; of course the manor was now an open house.

I follow Katherine into the lounge, unable to stop myself from watching the way her hips swing as she walks but instead of turning me on like it should, like it used to, it only fuels my anger. Everything that I used to find alluring about her feels wrong now. Every time I look at her, every time she speaks, it's like a little part of the man I used to be dies. That man, who'd known nothing, who'd barely lived, who'd loved with all his heart… Well, look where that had got him. Maybe it's that I really have changed… I almost laugh out loud at the thought. Who am I kidding, I will never change. I am not my brother.

"Well, where is dear Elena then?" Katherine turns to face me and my instinct betrays me as I track the sound of her pulse from my bedroom and look up, "don't worry Damon, you should know by now I'm no longer a threat to her." Yeah, that was likely, "in fact, she's going to play a very important part in my life from now on" she finishes, perching herself casually on the arm of one of the sofas. What the hell did she mean by that? If she thought I was going to let her use Elena in another one of her little games, the bitch had another thing coming.

This, it turns out, comes as no surprise to Katherine as the moment I think it she begins to laugh softly. A laugh which is nothing like Elena's.

"Always the hero… although, Stefan really has stolen your thunder this time hasn't he" the comment will hurt her as much as it will me but she says it anyway and its still enough that I find myself in front of her in seconds, my hand around her throat. This needs to end. I need to protect Elena. Katherine is not the women I'd fallen in love with all those years ago and I have to kill that part of me that still wants to believe it. She is_ not_ human, she is only a threat. I curl my fingers tighter.

"Listen carefully Katherine because I will only say this once." I shake her slightly so that her eyes, which had wandered to my bare chest, now rise back to meet mine, "Elena is no longer a part of any of your plans and Mystic Falls is no longer your hidey hole from the big bad wolf" I smile a little at the thought of Klaus getting his hands on her but that only reminds me that if he should, Stefan would be there too… Stefan would be there too! My hand drops suddenly and she inhales deeply, her hands at her throat. If Klaus comes for Katherine, and if I'm honest with myself I know that is more than a possibility, then surely he would bring Stefan. Only… it couldn't be that simple. Could it?

"It's almost pathetic. Watching your eyes brighten with a false sense of hope I mean… but then, you always were naïve" I can barely hear her taunts, barely remember she even exists, even as she now runs her hands over my chest. Everything else disappears as ideas start to form into plans, a million possibilities playing themselves over in my head. I hadn't had the time to think, I mean after the cure, after the kiss… All I'd honestly concerned myself with was Elena, she'd been so… hopeless. But there was no time for that now, I'd already given myself over to death so technically I no longer exist anyway and if it comes down to it, I will gladly right my brother's wrong, not just for_ her_, but for him, for me.

"If you think you can use me as bait to lure out Klaus your wrong. In fact, you'd probably have a better shot using Elena"

Elena. Hearing her name spoken out loud brings me back to reality and makes me hyperaware of something that's been prodding at my subconscious. Something's wrong. The house is silent. No heartbeat. Elena…

**Elena**

If Damon thinks he is the only one who can play games he is sorely mistaken. He and… _Stefan,_ I have to force the name out, had underestimated me before and apparently, he was doing it again. He thinks that just because, just because…. Well it doesn't matter what he's thinking because I am sure of my own thoughts and that is that if we are ever going to get Stefan back, I'm going to have to present Klaus with a more attractive offer. I just have to figure out what that is…

"Elena?" Jeremy's voice drones down the line and I feel at least one small part of me grow whole again. This feeling, this emptiness… it's as if I'll have to slowly put myself back together.

"Sorry Jer, I shouldn't have called" I _shouldn't _have, I could tell by his tone that I'd woken him, but I had _needed _to.

"What's wrong, you sound weird"

I could hear him shuffling around, dropping the phone. What was I going to say? _'Everything's wrong, but there's nothing you can do, I was just making sure you are still alive.'_

"Nothing, everything's fine I just wanted to let you know I won't be home for a few days" it was true at least, only I just realise it after I'd said it.

"Where are you?" he pauses and I'm about to lie and tell him I'm with Caroline when he interrupts, "look there's something I have talk to you about, about what Bonnie did…" and I want to listen to the rest of what he's going to say, I really do but I can hear voices downstairs and I know I don't have long until Damon comes back.

"Sorry Jeremy, I have to go… look, I'll see you at the house" I rush through the words, hating myself for saying them, for leaving Jeremy alone. I can only hope that Alaric will go by the house, make sure he is okay.

"Love you" I tell him as I throw my bag over my shoulder and head to the window. I've never climbed out of a window before, sure, I've smashed one and jumped through it but that was at street level. I push the glass up with my free hand and look down. It's not that far...

"Elena, are you sure you're okay?" Jeremy's voice is louder now and I worry its enough that Damon will hear. I hang up.

"Sorry Jer" I whisper mostly just so I can hear something that is not the pounding of my own heart as I climb up to the window and move to dangle my legs outside.

Why am I doing this? Three reasons Elena, three reasons.

_One.__ Jeremy, Bonnie and Caroline will never be safe with you here._ I take a deep breath.

_Two.__ Stefan needs you and you need him._ I wriggle closer to the edge and feel my chest tighten with anticipation.

_Th__ree. If you don't find him, his martyrdom will be for nothing. Damon will still die, only it will be fighting, protecting his brother or _you _and if that happens… _I jump.

* * *

><p><em>AU Note: thanks for reading this far. i'll apologise right now to the people who don't like Katherine but I truly think she would play a central part in all of this and i'm trying to make it as 'real' as possible. hang in there delena shippers, i know i've been dropping hints but as the pressure mounts there will be a lot of moments where elena andor damon realise that this could be 'it' they could die at any moment and well... we all know what that generally leads to. (*cough* Ron & Hermione! haha)_


End file.
